1. Field of the Invention PA0 2. Change in National Policy of Water Treatment PA0 3. Requirements for Sampling PA0 4. Description of the Prior Art PA0 Sampling Devices
This invention is in the field of an electromagnetic water treatment device as disclosed in my U.S. Pat. No. 4,151,090 granted on Apr. 24, 1979, and my U.S. Pat. No. 4,148,731 granted on Apr. 10, 1979.
This invention is in the field of low-cost apparatus for physical treatment of water, including ground water, waste water and chemical industrial effluent by electromagnetic forces and for providing a representative sample of the dissolved components carried by the water such as in shown in Belk, et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,907,673 and Robinson 3,190,231 in which the contaminants are to be removed.
This invention also relates to apparatus for holding a representative sample of water which is treated by electromagnetic treatments utilizing a holding tank which is fitted with a filter along the lines shown in DeLonge, et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,202,768, but is also fitted with a petcock from which a representative sample may be analyzed by a low-cost test.
This invention also relates to low-cost apparatus for physical treatment of water, including ground water, waste water and the like with ultraviolet rays in order to kill any bacteria therein.
This invention relates to low-cost apparatus for electromagnetic treatment of waste water from fermentation which can serve to conserve the carbohydrate content thereof to provide sterile makeup water, sterilization being accomplished by ultraviolet ray treatment.
The recent report by the Council on Environmental Quality entitled "Contamination of Ground Water by Toxic Organic Chemicals" published in the late fall of 1980 reports that 80% of the United States population depends on ground water for drinking. The Council also reports serious contamination of drinking water wells in thirty-four states. Trichoroethylene was found in almost 40% of the cases with some northeastern wells containing concentrations of more than one part per million (ppm). Although the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has not yet proposed maximum contaminant levels for drinking water under the 1974 Safe Drinking Water Act, it expects to make a proposal as part of its Interim Primary Drinking Water Standards later in 1981.
Among the EPA regulations that have been delayed are the final rules for pre-treatment required from industries before they can discharge waste into a municipal treatment system. Amended regulations published in October 1979 took into account industry objections to the "consistent removal" rule and redefines "consistent" as that removal demonstrated by averaging the lowest 50% of the removals measured by twelve or more samples.
Also EPA rules stopped by the change in administration under President Reagan are the Rules for Pollutant Discharge Control for electroplating and timber product processing sources.
Based upon the new direction in national policy on environmental health and safety regulations, accurate low-cost analysis under scientifically controlled sampling conditions constitutes a main objective which is imposed as the essential tool to guarantee success of the national policy which can only be carried out with full responsibility in the private sector.
The present invention addresses this objective by providing a low-cost sampling device which faithfully represents the precise composition of the water sample and permits a very easy measure of suspended solids which are filtered out, and also permits the separation of scale which is blown out and collected.
In contrast to the United States practice, Great Britain has controlled the trade effluent from industry, sewage, storm water, drainage, etc. under a continuous series of Acts of Parliament starting with the Public Health Act of 1936, the Drainage Premises Act of 1937, etc. and has adopted continuous sampling rather than spot sampling for effluence of variable composition. In exceptional cases automatic alarm systems are installed to warn of danger caused by toxic chemicals but such systems are not common. Spot sampling is carried out in a time period of at most one to two minutes. Continuous monitoring is deemed to be vitally important and British practice as explained at page 16 of the text "TREATMENT OF INDUSTRIAL EFFLUENTS," Calley, Forster and Stafford, John Wiley & Sons, 1976. Because of the long experience and the use of continuous recording equipment, automatic sampling is stressed and used throughout the private sector. The data is collected and interpreted by expert statisticians in the private sector and in the government who take into account the necessary guidelines for interpretation. However, as pointed out in the text by Callely, et al. the cost of labor to collect and sort the information is very high, the need for more control and better control in treating toxic chemicals have resulted in the increasing sharing of data by regional water authorities and interchangeable use of computers to collect the information.
In contrast to this practice, the present invention proposes to sample waste water, effluent or ground water by collecting at least a forty gallon sample, circulating it by means of a pump through an electromagnetic treatment unit which assures that no unexpected precipitation occurs and passing the sample water through a filter for the removal of suspended organic matter.
As pointed out in the text "ELEMENTARY QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS" by Willard and Furman, D. Van Nostrand Co., Inc., 1935, at page 5, the selection of a representative sample is fully as important as the analysis itself. As stated at page 29, the sample must be truly representative of the composition of the whole material, otherwise the effort spent will be wasted. In stating proportions of material, this book indicates that for a carload of ore, a large sample of several hundred pounds is taken. Similarly, for a large liquid sample a representative sample must be taken. It is an essential aspect of the present invention that the large sample which is taken of about forty gallons is adapted for small municipalities which do not have the funds to operate large and expensive advanced waste water treatment plants or advanced drinking water plants.
In the prior art of water treatment, tertiary treatment of sewage and treatment of ground water containing impurities, small quart size sampling containers have been employed for collecting a representative output. Also various types of electronic and optical monitoring instruments have been used to monitor removal of contaminants from settling basins. An example of one such device which is employed and a method utilized in cleaning the sampling device is found in the patent to Robinson 3,190,321. In Robinson a filter is used together with a pressure gauge in order to assure that contaminants which impair the operation of the instrument, in this case a flotation instrument, are removed and the teaching in this patent extends to a cleaning procedure to eliminate the contaminants from the flotation chamber of the instrument.
Sampling devices are described in specifications of the Hach Company, P.O. Box 389, Leveland, Colo. 80537, which are used in conjunction with test kits for simple low-cost EPA approved tests for water quality, these tests including colorimetric determinations for nitrogen, nitrate in the high range, in the low range, in the intermediate range, nitrogen is ammonia, nitrate, silica, phosphate, sulfite, sulfate, ozone, chlorine, calcium, chromium, dissolved oxygen, pH and other tests. These tests are low-cost tests in contrast with tests which are based upon optical apparatus built for sensing a specific condition. For example, electronic pH meters cost a minimum of $1,000 in the most recent models while a pH kit from Hach costs about $43.50 for the wide range kit and $37.50 for the smallest increment kit. In short, the EPA approved methods for detecting the common impurities at the concentrations encountered in waste water, in raw water and in treated water are available for small users at low cost only if the sampling devices can provide a representative meaningful aliquot portion for the waste water treatment and or the potable water source.
This invention provides this low-cost sampling need for the small user whether he be the independent farmer dealing with surface or ground water or the small municipality who can ill afford to charge its customers the present excessive costs which are involved under the clean air and clean water acts.
In the States of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Vermont the fresh water streams and lakes in the recreation areas of the outer Adirondack Mountains and White Mountains have become eutrophic. Present proposals require very expensive installations with undue burden on the heavy industries and abatement of air pollution by smoke use is alleged by some to cause acid rain. Agreement, however, is that acid rain must be eliminated, substances in the air leading to cancer or respiratory disease must be eliminated and that every community, large and small, rich and poor, must live up to a standard cost effectiveness for the common objective of installing low-cost equipment which is highly efficient.
Low costs in testing are obviously achieved by the test kits now on the market, one example is the test kit mentioned available from the Hach Company. However, there is no low-cost method of monitoring and proper sampling large installations nor of permitting unskilled citizens to take care of their own water recovery needs with low-cost equipment.
To illustrate a recent development of high-cost equipment, the most recently announced device is a new instrument from Beckman Instrument Company of Fullerton, Calif., named "Microtox" which tests water to determine toxicity to fish. The present method for checking toxicity is bioassay requiring periods from 24-96 hours. The Beckman machine costing many thousands of dollars makes the test in a matter of a few hours or less and is an optical test. The companies who have tested it over the past nine months with plant effluents are not widely enthusiastic about the machine, but the companies may be forced to purchase the machine if state governments require it.